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Representations of Motherhood is an intelligent, interesting, encompassing work that clarifies many important issues of feminism as they relate to motherhood.
The book begins with a startling frontispiece depicting a tiny, shrunken mother held captive in a swing by a massive, imposing toddler, a boy. The editors state that the present volume is a response to the empowered baby and the predominant image of the mother in white Western society as ever-bountiful and self-sacrificing. This portrait is viewed by feminists as a myth designed by a patriarchal society which is antagonistic to the emancipation and identity of women.
The stated purpose of the book is to focus attention on the issue of how motherhood is represented throughout society, and the complex and often contradictory nature of maternal images and practice. The task of feminism, the editors state, is to transform the structures that have created and continue to support infantile and regressive systems. In so doing, the editors hope to broaden the ground on which the experience of motherhood rests.
A varied assortment of professions is represented in the book. The majority of contributors are psychoanalysts, with additional chapters by developmental psychologists, writers, sociologists, a political scientist, a literary theorist, an artist, an art historian, an anthropologist, a film theorist, and a literary critic. The result is a richly diversified approach to modern feminism, which gives a historical overview of feminist philosophy in terms of the past, the present, and what is envisioned for the future.
What has been seen in the past as sentimental or natural behavior is now being reevaluated. Such scrutiny reveals that the process of mothering is a complex experience grounded in social,